Traveling to St Maarten

[dvinnola]

Hey folks! I have done some searching on the board, but haven't quite found the answer I am looking to find. I am traveling to St Maarten in November and would like to dive a few days. I googled for dive shops on the island, and can't get a sense if there are good dive spots, or who to go with. Does anyone have suggestions on specific dive shops to use, or dive spots to visit?

Thanks.

 

[LarryHinDC]

If possible, you should go to Saba to dive. Saba is a fantastic dive location and and the dive shops really treat you well. We've used Sea Saba (http://www.seasaba.com/) but I hear that all three dive operations are first-rate. If you don't want to spend the night on Saba, I believe they have a deal where you can fly in to Saba in the morning (15 minute flight), get picked up at the airport and go to the boat, dive, and get returned to the airport and be back in St Maartin that evening.

For more encouragement on Saba, read the report "Saba -- I drank the kool aide" that was recently posted. It does a better job of describing Saba than I ever could.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I did a shark awareness (feeding) dive in St. Maarten about 4 years ago with Dive Safaris. It was a pretty incredible dive and I would not hesitate to do it again if I went back.

 

[k8brandt]

We've done several trips to SXM. We stay in Simpson Bay and dive with Dive Adventures. Vinnie is the manager and has always taken great care of us. There are some pretty decent dive sopts off the island. The Gregory, Old Simpson Bay Bridge to name a couple of favorites. Just tell the crew what you are interested in seeing and they will try their best to accommodate you.

I totally agree with getting over to Saba if you have time. There is a fast boat that will take you over, ask Vinnie. We did a day trip and want to go back for a week.

Here is another thread about SXM/Saba. Check out my post on where to eat on SXM. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/le...e-needed-st-maarten-w-possible-saba-stay.html

 

[ScubaMarc]

if u go to saba, do not fly. Winair is the worst. the ferry is much easier. After all is done the flight time is the same. no security check, no lossing bags, no getting bumped from the flight. (all happened to me.) Ferry is 90 minutes and docs right next to the dive boat.

But, St martin has very nice diving. If you can not make it to Saba, just dive in St Martin. You will enjoy it.

Take a look, here is my picts. Marc's Dives.


Here is my winair review:

Last year myself and a few buddies went to SABA though ST. Martin on WINAIR Airlines. When we landed in SABA our luggage was not on the plane. So me and my buddies were annoyed but things happen.

This year we did the trip again. More issues with WINAIR. In the weeks prior to the trip after booking the tickets online, I received an email asking to send a copy of my passport and credit card. I did some research and found WINAIR does do this stupidity so it was not a scam. Still, I will not do it. I called WINAIR and asked them if I can verify the paperwork in person in ST Martin prior to the trip. They said ok. 2 days prior to going to SABA I went the main WINAIR office and received a printed confirmation for the flight. 2 days later getting ready to board the plane. The ticket agent said there were no reservations. We showed them the printed confirmation and said that it did not matter if was not in the computer. We did not want to miss the flight so we said we will rebook the flight and deal with the extra $$$ when we get back. The agent tried to get us seat but claimed the plan was full. Now we were screwed with hotel and dive reservations with no way to get to the island.

Since we had no options with the plane we decided to try to get the ferry to SABA. The ferry was perfect!!! We got to the ferry terminal, waited on line and got 3 tickets to saba. NO ISSUES.

If anyone is going to SABA, take the ferry.



BTW, SeaSaba were great in handling the missing dive gear and gave us free rentals for the 1st years trip and on the second years fiasco let us do a rebook our first 2 dives.

On the ferry ride back to St. Martin, the ferry operators gave us non stop beer for the entire ride back. Very Nice crew and boat.

 

[dvinnola]

I looked at Saba, but can't do an overnight stay, so would be stuck with something like the ferry. I did see Dive Safaris and was thinking the Shark Awareness dive sounded interesting. If there are some decent sites around St Maarten, maybe I can make Dive Safaris work. Thanks for the responses. It looks like I am going to be staying quite a ways from Phillipsburgh.

 

[ScubaMarc]

there are many shop outside Phillipsburgh and many dive sites that i enjoyed. Just dive in St martin.

 

[jph]

I just got back from St Maarten. I dived with Octopus Diving out of Grand Case, a first class operation. Chris and Sally are fantastic people.